5:25AM we only wait 10mins for the tram to arrive and it only stopped at 2/14 stops, since it was so early, expediting the process and got us to the change over station around 6:00. We had to go up 3 flights of stairs with our bike boxes to actually got over to the tracks that we needed. I ended up making the trip 3 times to bring up both of our bike boxes and my luggage. By that time it is now 6:15. Desiree got onto an elevator but on the wrong side of the tracks so she had to go back up the same elevator and down another set to be on the correct side to head to the Prieaus port. We wait till around 6:40 before realizing that waiting for the train was no longer an option. During the waiting process there was a black Athenian guy helping us out and ensured us that the train would come. We decided to take a cab to get to the port and he directed us to the taxi area and after we got off the elevator to get over got the street level, he was there waiting to make sure that we were headin into the correct place and even help Desiree with her bike case up a flight of steps. He stands street side with us and tells us that all we need to do is flag down a taxi and then he quickly hopped onto a bus and off he went. Now we're on our own.
6:48. We finally flag down a taxi and the driver doesn't speak any English and we're trying to tell him that we need to get to Pireaus port. The guy's taxi is a little skoda that we threw out bike boxes in the truck that was left open but held with a single bungle cord. If he accelerated too fast, I was sure that the boxes would have exited the trunk onto the busy traffic full streets. The guy weasels his way through traffic and amazingly gets us to the port at 7:10. 10€ worth every single penny. We run as quickly with all our stuff and loaded the bike cases and luggage onto the ferry and attempted to get our persons onto the ferry but was redirected that we need actual tickets not the confirmation papers. We ran across the loading decks of 4 other ferries to get to the correct ticket booth and had our tickets printed. Time is now almost 7:20. We sigh a breathe of relief and 'leisurely' walked back to our ferry but stopped along the way to a bread vendor and picked up a pastry and boarded our ferry. Time 7:25. We went up to the upper deck level and set up shop of back of the ferry to begin a 5 hour boat ride to Mykonos. We watched as other people scrambled to their respective ferries.
7:35- Andio Attica (good bye Athens) as our ferry leaves the port and off we go.
That was a ridiculous morning that could have gone really bad- random stranger helping us, non English speaking taxi driver taking us to the port, traffic.. WTF?!
I feel like this was an episode of the Amazing Race!
11:23- we arrive at a port and it's like an hour ahead of schedule. Sweet! We go down to our bikes and baggage and about to get off the ferry when we found out that this ferry stop isn't Mykonos, it's Siros. That could had been bad. We got back up to the deck and settle for two more stops as the next one is Tinos and then our destination- the island of Mykonos.
After arriving to Mykonos port, we go off and watched for any signs or vehicles that had the name of our hotel. It was like a mad house with a plethora of people just holding signs for oncoming travelers to have them stay at their hotel. We lugged our luggage around the port and decided that desiree would settle and watch our luggage as I ventured to find any reminisce of out hotel- San Antonio Summerland. After a couple laps of the different hotel shuttles, there was no sign of them. It was decided that desiree would have a better chance at asking somebody to user their phone to call the hotel about transport. She walked up to a group of police and they were able to help us out and called the hotel who informed us that their driver was on his way back to the port to pick us up.
The hotel is only about 3 kms from the port, but not walkable with all out baggage, the elevation, and the blazing sun. As we drove to the hotel, we could see a perfect view of the front side with the beautiful pool. We get to the front desk to check in and was informed that we would need to pay for an extra night as we were there a day early from our booking off expedia. So we actually lost a day from our hotel in Athens and had to pay for an extra day in Mykonos. We didn’t catch it, and neither did the Pireaus port in Athens. We showed them our itinerary which had the day we were supposed to catch the ferry, yet they still gave us our tickets. Oh well, we are in Mykonos now and not much of a choice for us now. Our driver, Michael, informed us of the shuttle service into town ~3km away. The shuttle would leave every other hour on the even hours and pick up from town was 10 minutes pass the even hours. So we got to our rooms and was informed that the AC in the room would only stay on with all the doors and windows closed, as there were sensors that would turn the AC off and you had to swipe your room card in a slot behind the front door to reset the AC. Unfortunately, our AC wouldn’t stay on more than 2 minutes however I beat the system by keeping one of the two room keys inside the slot.
We took got settled in and took a little nap and decide to head into town from 6-10PM. We navigated through the confusing narrow streets of town full of little shops, cafes, ‘diners,’ and restaurants. We grabbed dinner and the servers were checking out my new iPhone 4. They kept asking me how much I bought it for offered to buy if from me however desiree told them that I had my old one. I told the servers that I would sell it for 200 euros and could bring it by tomorrow for them to see and purchase. We continued on to explore the shops and returned to our hotel to get some rest from our crazy and intense journey a day a head of schedule to Mykonos.
Pics: http://travel.webshots.com/album/578044034bLLUqm
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